Dooley v. HIGHWAY TRUCKDRIVERS & HELPERS, ETC., Civ. A. No. 2157.

• Decision Date: 26 February 1960
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2157.
• Citation: 182 F. Supp. 297
• Parties: Daniel P. DOOLEY, Acting Regional Director of Fourth Region of National Labor Relations Board, for and on behalf of National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. HIGHWAY TRUCKDRIVERS AND HELPERS, LOCAL 107, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

182 F. Supp. 297

Daniel P. DOOLEY, Acting Regional Director of Fourth Region of National Labor Relations Board, for and on behalf of National Labor Relations Board, Petitioner, v. HIGHWAY TRUCKDRIVERS AND HELPERS, LOCAL 107, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS, CHAUFFEURS, WAREHOUSEMEN AND HELPERS OF AMERICA, Respondent.

Civ. A. No. 2157.

United States District Court D. Delaware.

February 26, 1960.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James T. Youngblood, Clifford M. Roth, Washington, D. C., and George Burnstein, Philadelphia, Pa., for Nat. Labor Relations Bd.

David Coxe, Jr., Wilmington, Del., Richard Markowitz, Philadelphia, Pa., for Local 107.

Daniel A. Lynch, of King & Lynch, New York City, for Safeway Stores, Inc.

STEEL, District Judge.

Findings of Fact

1. The petitioner is Daniel P. Dooley, Acting Regional Director of the Fourth Region of the National Labor Relations Board (hereinafter "Board"), an agency of the United States. The respondent is Highway Truckdrivers and Helpers, Local 107, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (hereinafter "Local 107"). Petitioner seeks an injunction on behalf of the Board under Sec. 10(l) of the Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, as amended¹ (hereinafter "Act"), to enjoin Local 107 from engaging in alleged unfair labor practices in violation of Sec. 8(b) (4) (D)² of the Act pending a final adjudication by the Board.

2. Local 107 is an unincorporated association in which employees participate. It exists for the purpose, in whole or in part, of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work. It is a labor organization within the meaning of Secs. 2 (5),³ 8(b) and 10(l) of the Act. At all material times it has been engaged within this judicial district in transacting business and in promoting and protecting the interests of its employee members.

3. Safeway Stores, Inc., (hereinafter "Safeway") is engaged in the operation of a chain of retail grocery stores throughout the United States in connection with which it operates a meat processing plant at Wilmington, Delaware. In the operation of its business, Safeway annually receives and ships across state lines goods and materials valued at far in excess of $50,000.

4. For a number of years prior to the present controversy Local 107 had a collective bargaining agreement with Safeway for members of its union who, as employees of Safeway, drove Safeway trucks between its Wilmington plant and its distribution centers at Kearney, New Jersey and Landover, Maryland. In the latter part of 1959 three members of Local 107 were so employed by Safeway.

5. On October 16, 1959 Local 107 wrote Safeway and stated that it desired to terminate its bargaining agreement as of December 31, 1959, its termination date. It stated further that it desired to make certain changes in the agreement and would be glad to meet representatives of Safeway at such time as was convenient to them for the purpose of discussing the changes. Safeway replied by registered mail on December 11, 1959 and asked when and where the parties could get together.

6. On December 11, 14 and 23 Riethe, the manager of the Wilmington Safeway plant, telephoned the Wilmington office of Local 107 in an effort to discuss with its representative, Crawford, the contract changes which the union proposed. On each occasion Riethe was advised that Crawford was out; and on December 23 and on various other occasions Riethe left his name and asked that Crawford call him. He did not do so until December 31.

7. On December 28, Quinn, the staff negotiator of Safeway, informed the terminal managers of the Safeway distribution centers in Landover, Maryland and in Kearney, New Jersey that the trucking operation which theretofore had been carried on out of the Wilmington plant would no longer be conducted from Wilmington, but that the work was being re-assigned to Kearney and Landover. The distribution centers consisted of warehouses to which Safeway had its produce sent for distribution to its retail stores. On the same date Quinn spoke with Bell of Local 639 whose members were employed by Safeway at the Landover distribution center and with O'Connor of Local 660 which represented the employees of Safeway at the Kearney distribution center, and arranged with them to have members of their unions take care of the trucking between Landover and Kearney, respectively, and Wilmington. Locals 660 and 639 were chartered by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters just as was Local 107.

8. On December 28 Safeway wrote Local 107 and stated that the company had decided to discontinue its trucking operations as of January 1, 1960 and that it would attempt to find comparable work for the three union men in some other Safeway operation. The following day Safeway received from Local 107 a letter agreement which it requested that Safeway sign.

9. On the morning of December 31 Safeway terminated the employment of one of its three drivers who were members of Local 107, and shortly thereafter the employment of the other two union drivers was terminated.

10. At noon on December 31, Crawford telephoned Riethe and asked Riethe what was going on at the plant. Crawford said that unless the company signed the demands of the union, it would have a picket line on the place at 12:01 that night. Crawford said that there would be no picketing if the company would sign the contract and put the three union employees back to work. The picketing began at 2:00 a. m. on January 2.

11. At a meeting on January 4, 1960 between representatives of Local 107 and Safeway, Crawford, speaking for Local 107, said that pickets were going to stay at the Wilmington plant until Safeway signed the agreement with the union, that the union was not interested in having Safeway trying to place its members elsewhere, and that they were going to stay in Wilmington and drive the Safeway equipment. Cohen, another union representative, said that the controversy could be settled by Safeway entering into a contract with Local 107 and continuing the employment of the three drivers whose services had been terminated.

12. During the period of the picketing a number of trucks approached the plant. When they came to the picket line the pickets stopped the trucks and talked to the drivers. The trucks were stopped in various ways, by the pickets calling to the drivers, waving their picket signs at them, or actually picketing in front of the pathway of the trucks. In each instance the truck refrained from driving into the plant and turned around and drove away.

13. Among other trucks to be picketed were those from Kearney and Landover which were driven by members of Locals 639 and 660. These trucks arrived at the Safeway plant in Wilmington on January 3 and 4, respectively, to pick up meat to carry back to the distribution centers. The driver of the Landover truck was told by a picket, "You can't get any meat here today * * * We are picketing. * * * We are not letting anything in here." The driver then telephoned to the business agent of his Local in Washington and was told to return to Landover. He was told not to cross the picket line.

14. On January 6 a truck from Gulf Oil Company refused to make a delivery of oil to Safeway after pickets had talked to the driver for about five minutes. The Gulf Oil driver was a member of District 50 United Mine Workers. He was told by the picket, "You can cross if you want, but we would appreciate it if you would honor it."

15. On January 6 another truck with lubricating oil for Safeway was stopped by pickets and the driver refused to cross the picket line after he had been talked to by the pickets.

16. Between 8:00 a. m. and 4:00 p. m. from January 2 to January 9, inclusive, at least 19 motor vehicles which had been stopped and talked to by the pickets refused to enter the Safeway plant in Wilmington.

17. It is customery most of the time for members of one union to honor a request by members of another union not to cross a picket line.

18. The Board has not certified Local 107 as the bargaining representative of the employees of Safeway engaged in driving its trucks out of Landover, Maryland (Washington, D. C. area) or Kearney, New Jersey (New York metropolitan area), nor has the Board ordered Safeway to bargain with Local 107 on behalf of Safeway's employees.

19. On or about January 5, 1960, Safeway filed a charge with the Board under Sec. 10(k)⁴ of the Act and alleged that Local 107, in violation of Sec. 8(b) (4) (D), was engaging in a strike to compel Safeway to assign work to members of Local 107 rather than to the members of two other labor organizations. The charge was referred to petitioner as Acting Regional Director of the Fourth Region of the Board.

20. The present petition was filed on January 9, 1960. On the same day a temporary restraining order was issued which enjoined Local 107, until further order of the Court, from picketing the Safeway plant. The picketing ceased after the issuance of the restraining order. Since then, no truck has refused to enter the Wilmington plant.

21. As a result of the picketing 165 to 175 production and maintenance employees at the Wilmington plant were laid off. After the picketing stopped they returned to work and operation continued normally.

22. On January 11, 1960 the Board gave notice to Local 107 and Safeway that a hearing would take place on February 9, 1960 upon the charges which Safeway had filed under Sec. 10(k) of the Act, unless in the interim satisfactory evidence was submitted that the parties had adjusted the dispute or had agreed upon methods for its voluntary adjustment. This hearing was continued by agreement of the parties. So far as the record shows no disposition of the controversy has been made by the parties or by the Board.

23. Petitioner had reasonable cause to believe that the following facts are true:...